


Dearest Father

by Aubergion



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: 5+1 Things, Dysfunctional Family, Epistolary, Gen, Pre-Canon, more passive-aggressiveness than you can shake a stick at
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26648590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aubergion/pseuds/Aubergion
Summary: Five letters Sebastian Vael sent home, and one he didn't.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Dearest Father

_9:22 Dragon_

Dearest Father,

If you had wanted to bind me in the Chantry, you ought not to have ordered the guards to take me there in the servants’ entrance, for a door can be opened as easily from one side as the other, and that one is rather more poorly guarded than the rest.

Fear not, I have no intention of returning to Starkhaven and shaming my dear and righteous brothers, or scandalizing the nobility with my presence again. I would not wish to cause you such pain. I am a mere wanderer now, one man of good fortune amongst many. I know not where my journeys shall take me, nor what company I shall keep along the way, but it shall be of my own choosing, not of yours.

You needn’t concern yourself with such trifles of my life, for I know you are an old man and it would be a strange time indeed for you to begin new habits. Go and tell the world the Maker graced you with but two sons, your Highness, and not a one of them will notice the difference. I certainly won’t.

Your obedient servant,

Sebastian

* * *

_9:23 Dragon_

Dearest Father,

I write this missive to you regarding your latest bribe to Grand Cleric Elthina. Let us not mince words and pretend it a tithe. Take back your guards and your gold, and send no more of either to the south. You may have tried to chain me here with these paltry tokens, but let me make one thing clear: I have stepped into the fold of my own free will. I may yet remain, I may not, but I am here today. I am content with it, as is Her Grace. I am a man grown and though it may be a foreign concept to you, I beseech you to permit me the dignity of my own decisions for one moment in my life. If that is not enough for you, then you may take it up with Andraste Herself.

May the Maker watch over you.

Kindest regards,

Sebastian Vael

* * *

_9:25 Dragon_

Dearest Father,

I hear my good brother Domhnall has been wed, and I wish to extend my most heartfelt well-wishes to the happy couple. Were it only that I'd heard it from your quill instead of from gossiping tradesfolk on the street. Are you concerned about the delivery? Kirkwall's Chantry is not a subtle building, and I assure you that any letter addressed here to me will find its way into my hands. Or perhaps you are afraid that it will languish unread? We lay brothers have little free time, it is true, but I am confident in my ability to scrounge up a few wayward minutes to read a single letter.

Perhaps you are afraid I have left, without a letter, without a single farewell? I admit freely that at first, I had no intention to remain here. But it has been two long years, and you know well that I have not left Kirkwall for a day of them. The religious life grows on me, as ivy grows up an ancient tower and claims it for the woods. I sing in the choir. I tend to the upkeep of the chapel, and find more satisfaction with a broom in my hand than I ever did from a barfight or a ballroom. The Grand Cleric suggests that I might soon take the vows of an initiate, and I look to that day not with resentment but with anticipation. I have _changed_ , Father, hard though it may be for you to imagine. If your duties ever call you south, you might come to the Chantry and see for yourself. 

Until then, I remain,

Your devoted son,

Sebastian Vael

* * *

_9:26 Dragon_

Dearest Father,

Thank you for your most recent letter of congratulations. To answer your question: I am truly content here, as I had not thought I would be before. I do not miss the prior life I led, though I doubt I feel as half much shame over it as you would like. Instead, I have found camaraderie amongst my fellow initiates, and comfort in the Maker's light. It seems every day Kirkwall becomes more and more a home, and Starkhaven but a mere memory.

Your most gracious gift has been received as well. Though I am concerned that I may have misspoken in my previous letter, as I remind you I have taken the vows of an initiate in the Chantry, not those of a common guard. Nevertheless, I am certain I will find some way to make use of a _full suit of ceremonial armor_. Perhaps as a shaving mirror?

Send all my love to Mother.

In Andraste’s love,

Brother Sebastian Vael

* * *

_9:28 Dragon_

Dearest Father,

I hope you are keeping well, and I pray each day that whatever conflict or struggle is keeping you occupied in the north is ended soon, for certainly I can think of no other cause for you to have failed to respond to my last five letters. I ask once more: How do my brothers fare? How is my dear mother? I know she is afflicted with most foul moods when the days grow cold and the nights long.

It is cold here in Kirkwall too, and the westerlies blow most fiercely. An ill wind, the grand cleric says, though I hope it prophesizes nothing worse than your usual sundry chills and grumbles following Satinalia revels. Even so, we prepare to open our halls to the hungry, collect clothes for the poor and desolate. It is good work, honest work, and I am grateful for the chance to aid these souls. I have found a home here, Father, and I have long since put aside any grudge I might hold against you for sending me away, but it is at times trying to know so little of affairs in Starkhaven. My vows demand temperance, patience, and humility, and I endeavour to live up to them every day, but there is no vow asking us to forswear our families for the Maker.

I anxiously await your reply.

Your loving son,

Brother Sebastian Vael

* * *

_9:31 Dragon_

Dearest Father -

It’s been two months. That’s how long it took me to find out. To hear of Goran’s coronation, and your - 

Why was I spared?

I had a niece. Nephews. You never saw fit to tell me. I learned their names from your man Tristan and committed them to the memorial wall in the same breath. Did you think I would not care for them, just because ~~you did not care for me~~

And now I am the last of our line. A good brother of the faith would let it rest there, for his heart would be committed to the Maker alone, and think no more of worldly things. Aren’t you lucky, then, that the only son you have left is a perennial disgrace? I will not let this go unanswered. Perhaps you will be proud, or perhaps you will not. But one way or the other, I shall see our family avenged, or follow you to the Maker’s side in trying.

Your ever-obedient son and servant,

Prince Sebastian Vael of Starkhaven


End file.
